“I see the AD North American Meeting in the fall asthe catalyst for driving what goes on throughout theyear,” Blue says. “Members and suppliers work their plansthroughout the year. It serves as a great checkpoint —‘How are we doing?’ ‘Are we hitting our targets’, ‘Arethere issues?’ Then the focus transitions to planning andteeing up opportunities for the next year.”“From the first time I got engaged with the AD NorthAmerican meeting, it just impressed me,” adds ADIndustrial vice president of supplier relations Brian Carroll,was previously at an AD supplier for 15 years across threedivisions. “The collaborative growth culture resonated.You could feel the energy with the way the membersand suppliers worked. That was the one of the attractivethings for me coming here.”

eCommerce Initiative

Many distributors are trying to figure out how to bestoptimize their platform to match customer buying habitsand wants, while many others — especially small andmid-size companies — are still on the fence about gettinginvolved. For those still skeptical about if the time is rightto finally pull the trigger on an eCommerce plan, one maynot have to look any furtherthan AD.

Like most of the group’s
programs, its highly successful
eCommerce program started
off as a member-led initiative.
It originated in 2015 out of
the Industrial division as a
content service focused on
SKU building. Less than three
years later, AD now has more
than 160 people dedicated
specifically to its eCommerce Solutions across five divisions. In 2017 alone, AD will spend close to $7 million on
the continuous development of the service, and over $20
million over the next three years.

“We’re committed to this and to help our members winin the digital world to be successful online,” Templin says.“If anything it has accelerated and we’re excited aboutwhat it means for the members.”“Our members are in a lot of different stages in thateCommerce journey,” Blue adds. “Having the consulta-tive services, the AD eCommerce Summit and being able

Tom Blue

AD Industrial VP of MemberRelations & MarketingThis is just one of three walls full of trade publicationmagazines that have a cover story of an AD member companythat the group displays at its Wayne, PA office, including ahandful from Industrial Distribution. (ID photo)